Tucker Joins a Growing List of Cities Expanding Outdoor Seating for Restaurants

Tucker, just east of Atlanta, becomes the latest metro area city to offer its restaurants expanded outdoor seating options beyond the patio during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Brookhaven and Dunwoody recently began offering a temporary outdoor dining permit to restaurants reopen for dine-in service in those cities. These new permits allow restaurants to utilize common areas, parkings spaces, and other outside areas for seating, and serve as an alternative to traditional dining room service.

Tucker Mayor Frank Auman issued an executive order last week creating the new temporary outdoor dining permit. The permit is free of charge and expands seating for restaurants, food trucks, and other mobile vendors in the city of Tucker to expand seating into spaces like parking lots and sidewalks. Completed applications should be emailed to csmith@tuckerga.gov, along with the restaurant capacity limit, a site plan, and the number of outdoor furniture pieces or square footage of tents to be used for seating arrangements.

With three major metro area cities now offering expanded outdoor seating, and other cities around the country such as New York considering the move for restaurants, could this be a viable option for restaurants in the city of Atlanta?

Last week, the city council unanimously approve a resolution to allow for street closures and the closing of other lanes of traffic around Atlanta for pedestrian and cyclist use. The measure was signed by Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms. However, street closures must be approved by the Atlanta Department of Transportation (ADOT), which is taking recommendations from the city’s 25 Neighborhood Planning Units (NPU) and the city council.

Eater Atlanta contacted District 2 councilperson Amir Farokhi, one of the authors of the resolution, to ask whether the city council was considering offering a temporary outdoor dining permit to restaurants or allowing restaurants to expand seating into any closed streets approved by ADOT. District 2 includes a handful of Atlanta’s hottest dining neighborhoods, like the Old Fourth Ward and Inman Park.

“My hope is that we follow suit,” Farokhi tells Eater in an email. He continues to discuss the matter with Atlanta’s commissioner of transportation, Josh Rowan.

Stay home if sick. Check the Georgia Department of Public Health website for guidance and updates on the latest number of reported COVID-19 cases. Numbers are now updated three times a day.

• Keep Track of How the Coronavirus Is Impacting Atlanta’s Food Scene
• Like Brookhaven, Dunwoody Now Offers Its Restaurants New Outdoor Dining Options [EATL]
• Brookhaven Gets Creative With Its New Outdoor Dining Permit for the City’s Restaurants [EATL]
• Mayor announces new transportation department head, $200M mobility plan [CurbedATL]